Snubbed! TV Stars And Shows That Never Won An Emmy

By ETCanada.com Staff.
12 Jul 2018 4:35 PM

The Emmy Awards have a long history of snubbing great TV shows and performers. The reasons are often complicated but invariably comes down to personal opinion. Voters just didn’t think an individual or a show was good enough to win or even be nominated.

Time, however, can often prove them to be wrong or misguided. Of course, that doesn’t help the snubbed fill up their trophy cases, but…

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Kim Cattrall (‘Sex And The City’)

It’s hard to believe after five nominations for playing the sexy powerhouse Samantha Jones on “Sex And The City”, Canadian Kim Cattrall came up empty-handed. Sarah Jessica Parker and Cynthia Nixon took home Emmys for the series’ finale season, but Cattrall – and nominated co-star Kristin Davis – failed to take home any hardware.

Chris Noth

Where would Carrie Bradshaw be without her Mr. Big? Unlike his female “Sex And The City” co-stars, Chris Noth failed to score a nomination for playing the on-again off-again man in Carrie’s life for six seasons of the HBO series.
Noth also failed to earn a nomination for his long-standing roles on “Law & Order” and “The Good Wife”.

Courteney Cox (‘Friends’)

What’s it like to watch every other actor in your ensemble get an Emmy nomination? Just ask Courteney Cox who failed to score even a single nod for her role as Monica Gellar on “Friends”. Both Lisa Kudrow and Jennifer Aniston won Emmys over the course of “Friends”’ run and male co-stars Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer all earned at least one nomination for the comedy.

David Duchovny

The harsh truth is out there – even after nearly 200 outings as FBI Agent Fox Mulder on “The X-Files”, David Duchovny failed to bring home an Emmy. Despite returning for two revival seasons of the cult hit, Duchovny missed out on his final chance to nab a win as Mulder. He earned two nominations for his run on the series and, even more shockingly, failed to land a single nom as Hank Moody on his Showtime series “Californication”. Duchovny will just have to console himself with the two Golden Globes he earned for each series.

Michael C. Hall

Though “Six Feet Under” won two Emmys for Outstanding Casting, the drama’s actual cast never took home actual awards over five seasons, including Hall for his portrayal of gay funeral director David Fisher. Hall also came up short for playing undercover serial killer Dexter Morgan on “Dexter” despite being nominated for an Emmy five times, and picking up a Golden Globe once over the show’s eight season run.

Henry Winkler ('Happy Days')

As The Fonz, Winkler became the biggest thing on television, almost single-handedly making "Happy Days" the most popular show on TV. But there was never any Emmy love for the womanizing King of Cool. While he did get three nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy (1976-78), he never won. To be fair, he twice lost to Carroll O'Connor (All In The Family), whose bigoted Archie Bunker was equally iconic.

Winkler is getting a chance at Emmy redemption in 2018 with a nod for Supporting Actor In A Comedy for "Barry".

'The Wire'

The gritty HBO series The Wire" is more celebrated these days than during its original broadcast. Some viewers now call it the greatest TV drama ever! Yet, in its five-year run (2002-08), the show garnered only two nominations for writing, and no nominations for Outstanding Drama. Was the ensemble show just too dense and complicated for the Emmy voters? We will never know for sure. Show creator David Shore suffered a similar fate with his earlier "Homicide: Life On The Street" (1993-99), which won several acting and writing Emmys, but never received an Outstanding Drama nom.

Larry Hagman ('Dallas')

Difficult to imagine the primetime soap without the evil J.R. Ewing (Hagman). But even when "Dallas" was topping the ratings, it got little attention from the Emmy folks. In its 14 years on the air, Hagman got only two nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama. He lost in 1980 to Ed Asner (Lou Grant) and in 1981 to Daniel J. Travanti for the then-red hot Hill Street Blues. Hagman, who died in 2012, was also snubbed at last year's Emmys.

Jerry Seinfeld/Jason Alexander ('Seinfeld')

Nominated in different categories (Jerry for Lead Actor/Jason for Supporting Actor), they both failed to win repeatedly. Jerry got a total of five nominations but no wins. And as George Costanza, Alexander received seven nominations without ever receiving a trophy. Part of the problem might be co-star Michael Richards, who constantly was up against Alexander. Richards, however, won three times.

'Star Trek'

Saying "Star Trek" has been snubbed by the Emmys seems a bit strange. In its six TV incarnations, the show has won 34 Emmys and been nominated a whopping 155 times. However, most of those wins and nominations came in technical categories (special effects/make-up/editing). The exceptions include the original "Star Trek", which received two nominations for Outstanding Drama Series and two nominations for actor Leonard Nimoy (the only acting nominations the show every received).

However, when "Star Trek: The Next Generation" received a Outstanding Drama Series nomination in its final season (1994), it was a victory of sorts. It marked the first time a syndicated series had ever been nominated in that category. It didn't win (of course).

Angela Lansbury ('Murder She Wrote')

Lansbury was nominated 12 straight times for Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama for her role as mystery writer Jessica Fletcher. Yet she never won. Not once. That must have gotten a little tiring after awhile. You get a dress. You get your hair done. And nobody gets to see you take the stage. Emmy snubs aren't new for the actress. She's been nominated a total of 18 times in her career without winning.

Steve Carell ('The Office')

Carell's role as boss-from-hell Michael Scott earned him no less than six nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series. But he lost every time to such comedy stalwarts as Tony Shalhoub ("Monk"), Alec Baldwin ("30 Rock"), and Jim Parsons ("Big Bang Theory").

Ironically, Carell lost in 2007 to "Extras"' Ricky Gervais, the guy who had actually created "The Office".

Hugh Laurie ('House')

As the caustic, troubled doctor of the title, Laurie was the main reason to tune in to this 2004-2012 series. Yet he could never quite win an Emmy for his performance, despite six nominations. But don't feel sorry for the actor. Late at night, Laurie can cuddle up with those two Golden Globes he won for the TV role.

'Community'

"Community" did receive an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing In A Comedy Series in 2012, so the Emmy voters are aware the show exists. Perhaps the cult comedy is just too weird for Emmy acceptance. The low-to-middling ratings probably haven't helped its profile come Emmy-voting time, either. Still, you'd figure a comedy category that frequently nominates shows that maybe aren't even comedies ("Glee"? "Orange Is The New Black"?) could find room for a show that's only about the laughs.

Nick Offerman ('Parks and Recreation')

As Ron Swanson, the government-hating, meat-loving bureaucrat, Offerman has been stealing scenes on this sitcom since its debut in 2009. He's probably the most quoted TV character currently on TV ('Any dog under 50 pounds is a cat, and cats are useless'/ 'I'm a simple man. I like pretty, dark-haired women and breakfast food'). Yet Offerman hasn't even got a sniff from the Emmys. Perhaps the character is just too deadpan and low-key for the voters. Otherwise, the snub is hard to explain. On the plus side, Ron Swanson probably only cares about awards involving wood-working.